Raccoons

Raccoons are nocturnal but hunger can bring them out in the daytime. This young one, already with a notched ear, appeared just after a flood.

I’ve always suspected the raccoons out hunting in the Spring and early Summer are trying to get enough nourishment to feed their babies hidden somewhere.

Another early Spring phenomena is the appearance of yearling raccoons in trees, as if they have been driven from their mothers and must find new homes. The expression of the face of the one below suggests that.

This mother, right (I recognize her by the black spot on the top of her left ear.) visited regularly in the Spring with four babies. Three were evident this night.

This one appears to have crawled into a tree and died.

No, he was just sleeping. Dead tired, it was.

Should you think the life of a raccoon is easy, this mauled, ear-shredded, tailless fellow might have another story.